When Cardinals Appear EBook

My car suddenly jolted and made a popping sound. What the—? I pulled over on the shoulder and got out. The driver’s-side tire was flat. A quick glance behind me confirmed I had driven over a pothole.
Great. Just what I needed on my first day back in town. I reached into the car and grabbed my cell phone.
“Hey, Lanie, are you on your way?”
“I was,” I hissed. “But I just hit a pothole, and I’ve got a flat.”
Steven sighed. “All right. I’ll call over to Sanders’s Tire and Auto and get someone out there to help you. Shouldn’t take long.”
“Can’t you come get me?” I pleaded, cursing myself for never learning how to change a tire.
“Sorry, sis. I’m swamped this morning.” When I didn’t respond, he hurried on. “But I can take you out for lunch to make up for it.”
My stomach knotted. The last thing I wanted was a possible run-in with the owner of the auto shop, but I wasn’t sure how I could avoid it. “Okay. Well, thanks for calling them for me.”
“No problem. I’ll see you soon.”
“Bye.” I mumbled and shoved my phone into my pocket. Mr. Sanders was a nice enough man, but having him fix my tire would be awkward. His son, Nate, and I were high school sweethearts, but we hadn’t spoken since our awful breakup.
In retrospect, pledging to stay in a relationship before going away to college on the other side of the country had been a stupid move, but I was smitten with Nate and convinced we could survive the distance. Unfortunately, the distance was only one aspect of the odds against us. Between classes, new people, and the time zone difference, we barely made it through my first semester. When I came home for Christmas that year, we had a huge fight and broke up.
I couldn’t recall what had caused the fight, but it didn’t really matter. I was devastated. Since then, Nate and I had an unspoken agreement to avoid each other at all costs. When I came home last spring to care for my mom, I’d tried to be cordial the few times I saw him. But Nate wouldn’t even look at me, which made no sense. He’d been the one to end things, after all, not the other way around.
The last time I saw him was at Mom’s funeral, but he hadn’t stuck around after the service. I caught only a glimpse of him as I followed the casket out of the church.
Knowing I had no other choice, I resigned myself to my fate and climbed back into the car. At least in a town so small, I shouldn’t have a long wait. I figured it would be as good a time as any to look over the paperwork I hadn’t gotten through.
I’d barely begun to review Mom’s last will and testament when a loud rap on my window startled me. I looked up, and my stomach plummeted as I met a familiar set of dark-brown eyes. It was Nate, not his father, who’d come to rescue me. I tried not to notice the short length of the black hair I’d once loved to run my fingers through. Or the way his once-soft features had given way to a chiseled jawline.
His eyes widened, and his mouth dropped open. A plethora of emotions crossed his face before his full lips pressed in a grim line and his dark eyebrows knitted together. Was he really that upset to see me or just shocked that I was here? Well, here goes nothing.

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